109th ACSA Annual Meeting

Washington University in St. Louis is the host school for the 109th Annual Meeting of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), which will be held virtually from March 24-26, 2021. The conference is designed for educators, practitioners, researchers, and students to explore and discuss the latest research, ideas, and practices in architecture, education, and allied disciplines.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Expanding the View: Prospect(s) for Architectural Education Futures,” and St. Louis is the host city. While events will take place virtually, the conference website notes that, “St. Louis, Missouri’s rich repository of environmental and social fabric, celebrated architectural works, and reputation as a proving ground for interdisciplinary community-embedded practices will inflect the programming.”

“As the host school for the ACSA conference, ‘Expanding the View,’ our University and the St. Louis region embody this year’s themes of equitable diversity, effective interdisciplinarity, and transformative scholarship,” said Heather Woofter, director of the College of Architecture and Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design, who is part of the four-person conference Steering Committee. “As we face unprecedented times to address a confluence of issues, several of our faculty and community members will speak to social, climatic, and technology-driven questions to consider generative and progressive values in architectural education.”

More than a dozen Sam Fox School faculty, students, and alumni are leading or presenting at conference events, as noted below. Programming is limited to conference registrants. Full details can be found on the conference website.

11:30a-12:30p Central: Teaching Suburbia Now (special focus session) Participants include Gavin Kroeber (moderator), associate professor Patty Heyda, and Adrienne Davis (Co-director, CRE2; Vice Provost; William M. Van Cleve Professor of Law), and independent artist Sarah Paulsen (MFA07)

1-2:30p Central: Environmental Logics (research session) “Thermal Comfort: Radiant Systems – A Review of Experimental Based thermal comfort research in Radiation systems” Presented by InCEES associate professor Hongxi Yin, Huzefa Jawadwala (MArch21/MCM21), and Robert Tian (undergraduate architecture student), along with project team colleagues from Purdue University, Technological University Dublin, and Queen’s University Belfast

2:30-4p Central: St. Louis Arch and Urbanism (film tour) Moderated by Eric Mumford (Rebecca and John Voyles Professor of Architecture) and associate professor Derek Hoeferlin (Chair, Landscape Architecture & Urban Design)

4-5:30pm Central: Technology-Enabled Spatial Productions (research session) “The Autonomous Future of Mobility” Presented by assistant professor Constance Vale

10-11a Central: Speculative Practice in Pedagogy (plenary session) Participants include assistant professor Constance Vale (moderator), associate professor Chandler Ahrens, and assistant professor Kelley Van Dyck Murphy

11:30a-1p Central: Mediations (research session) “Image Fictions: Fabricating Worlds” Presented by assistant professor Constance Vale

1-2:30p Central: Cultural Preservation as Community Development: Workshop with 4theVille (film tour) Participants include lecturer Melisa Sanders Betts (MArch15/MUD15; BlackArc) and Aaron Williams (BA08; 4theVille + Northside Community Housing)

10-11a Central: The Divided City // Pedagogical Explorations of Spatial Injustice in and with St. Louis (plenary session) Participants include associate professor Linda C. Samuels (moderator), associate professor Catalina Freixas, associate professor Patty Heyda, senior lecturer Michael Allen, De Nichols (BFA10/MSW14), and professor Denise Ward-Brown

2:30p-4p Central: Engaged Urban Practices (research session) “Ferguson, USA” Presentation by associate professor Patty Heyda

2:30p-4p Central: Emerging Healthy Environments Methodologies (research session) “The Built Environment and Stroke Rehabilitation: Needs and Approach Review” Presented by InCEES associate professor Hongxi Yin and Dennis Dine (MArch21)